How Much it Would Cost to Create a Marketplace Website?

Introduction

The e-commerce website or online marketplace is a virtual platform for buyers to shop online. The buyers can make smart buying decisions after comparing goods from several suppliers.

How Much Would It Cost to Develop an Online Marketplace?

If you are planning to set up an e-store to sell your products then you can think about having an e-commerce website. Now, you may be thinking about the marketplace website development costs.

Well, the prices merely depend on the Web Development Company you are planning to hire. If you are setting a budget then make sure you consider the below-mentioned costs.

• Backend hosting expenses
• Front and back-end programming and development costs
• UI and user experience design
• Technical support
• Marketing costs
• Quality assurance (Manual and Automation testing)

Initial Investment is based on Two Common Ways of Developing Your Marketplace Website:
 

Creating a Website from Scratch

It is one of the best options that give you the liberty of website design customization. If you go with this option, you would need to contact an e-commerce web design company that offers end-to-end services for your product. On the other hand, you can also tie up with several companies and combine the platforms. Now, this option needs you to get familiar with different technologies. The knowledge of the technologies will help you judge the options offered by a website development company.

If you choose this option certainly it would cost you more. The reason being the intensive efforts and as well as go to market time would be lengthy. Still, if you wish to go with this option, there are many custom web development services to help you.

Build a Website with the Help of Online Marketplace Platforms

You will find different online marketplace platforms to help you create your website. The platform you choose solely depends on which technology framework suits your requirements.

Other Cost Elements for Marketplace Website Development

The project costs are collected by most businesses much before it expands into a 100% scalable business.

Here is a list of different cost elements that add to the project:

A) Setup Costs

You have to register your company as well as the domain name of your website. It is the most important factor that adds to your entire setup costs. This factor is not an option but an essential element in a marketplace website development process.

B) Platform Costs

A platform is required to develop a marketplace website and this cost is unavoidable. Well, you may want to go with an open-source platform to save money but may not get the necessary features. Now, a lack of features would take a lot of time in customization. So, as and when you want to include a feature you would end up spending money.
On the other hand, there are so many platforms that offer loads of features and are expensive. These features may not be required for your marketplace. This means there is no reason why you should pay for features you do not need.

Ideally, you need to invest in buying a platform that helps you create a perfect e-commerce marketplace website with no additional expenses.

C) Hosting Costs

When your e-commerce website development project is completed successfully, you need a hosting service too. When it comes to the e-commerce marketplace website, it is always better to opt for shared hosting. There are a lot of web development services companies that offer hosting services to their clients.

Now, the question is whether you should go with a cloud server or a dedicated server. The costs of buying a Cloud server are lesser than a dedicated server. But, a dedicated server comes with added reliability and improved uptime.
Also, you need to check if the server you opt for is compatible with your platform.

D) Design Costs

Before your e-commerce website development project is ready to make even a single page live, make sure you consult an expert. This is important as it needs a vision of how your site is going to look.
To weigh this cost, the versatility of the platform plays a significant role. All the platforms are not designed to offer marketplace owners and users the same kind of look and feel.
In case the platform you have chosen doesn’t give you the space to visualize, then you may think of changing your vision. Also, you might think of changing the platform which adds to the overall costs.

E) Implementation Costs

You need to consider implementation costs once the design and layout of your website are completed. It is altogether a different task to add appropriate content and data to the website design. The logo of your company and other brands you want to showcase will cost you. You will be adding more pages to your marketplace website which would cost separately.

F) Maintenance Cost

Just like any other business, an eCommerce website also needs regular maintenance. You need to keep several things up to date which will add to the costs of website development and they are:

• Add another brand to the store
• Eliminate a vendor with whom you discontinued working
• Maintain contracts
• Legal agreements etc
• Some of the technical aspects that add to the costs are
• Software licenses
• Renewal of license
• Maintenance of software
• Adding/upgrading/removing a particular feature

All these factors are necessary and incur costs that many e-commerce website owners do not pay attention to.

G) Workforce Costs

Workforce costs in any e-commerce website development project mean the cost of employees who work to manage the marketplace regularly.
Everything from a website running, editing, addition, adding new content to promotions & marketing comes at a price. These costs are also quoted by a web development company when you hire them.

H) Marketing Costs

If you are thinking of coming up with a figure for minimum or maximum costs for a website development project, then it will be a cumbersome task.

If you create a full-proof marketing plan to succeed in your venture, it will automatically add to the development cost of your marketplace. But, it will also offer enhanced traffic and better ROI.

Marketing costs are always higher than other costs. You can pre-plan and promote your brand on social media in advance. You can reduce marketing costs by integrating marketing features into your website.
The most effective and economical way to promote your brand is to create engaging content. You can write blogs to attract potential audiences and get higher conversions.

Marketplace Website Development Cost: Let’s get a quick look at the cost of marketplace website development as per the features.

Conclusion:

Evaluating the cost incurred for marketplace website development is based on many factors. The cost element should not be a constraint when spending on areas that are going to contribute to your business. Also, spending more money on things that are not adding value to your business would not be a smart move. So, you need to invest smartly to reap in the benefits through your marketplace website.